The Best Kind of Surprise
by haleyr0918
Summary: Harry and Hermione have been married nearly 18 years, have two lovely daughters at Hogwarts, and everything is going according to plan. Until a romantic night in Rome leaves the Potter family with the best kind of surprise. H/Hr Ron/Luna Ginny/Neville are the main couples. Not epilogue compliant.
1. Unexpected News

To say Hermione Granger was freaking out was an understatement.

She had freaked out when Harry had finally gotten up the nerve to tell her he had feelings for her. His eyes belaying a depth of emotion she'd never seen from him before, but absolutely reciprocated.

She had freaked out when he'd proposed in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express- "Where we first met and began this crazy adventure," he had said, down on one knee, hair askew, looking every bit the boy she'd known in school.

She had freaked out when she'd sent the last of their girls off to Hogwarts. Lily and Matilda had boarded the train, Lily holding her younger sister's hand with delight and the girls had waved merrily as it steamed away.

No, to say Hermione was freaking out right now was an understatement. She was about three disasters past freaking out. Scrambling to do math in her head, which was normally second nature to the brilliant witch, counting backwards on the calendar. She paused as she heard the rush of the downstairs Floo, whirring to life as Harry returned from an evening at the Leaky with mates. Looking in the mirror and casting a quick charm to bring the color back to her pale, shocked cheeks, she rushed to meet him at the stairs.

"Hello love," he called up to her, smiling as her rounded the corner at the banister. His cheeks were a little pink, he'd clearly imbibed some, though Harry was never one to drink to excess. "How is my beautiful witch tonight? Legislation get pushed to session yet? Do we have news to celebrate?" he asked her.

Hermione forced a smile and tried to slow her heart racing, steady her breathing. She took a deep breath, then another until she felt she was composed enough to speak. By this time Harry had reached the first floor landing and gathered the witch in his arms.

"Well," she began nervously, "The legislation was tabled again. But I do have some news." She leaned back from his embrace to look at his face.

"Harry." She whispered. He looked at her nervously.

"What is it Hermione? I haven't seen you this nervous since you told Molly she couldn't cater our wedding," he joked, attempting humor.

She bit her lip, taking it into her mouth and worrying it for a few moments.

"I'm pregnant."

Harry froze, clearly not expecting news of this variety. "You're what?... but we use the charm every time, and you're on the potion. And we're OLD." He sputtered. ""We've two teenagers for Merlin's sake! What do you mean you're pregnant." His eyes were round behind his glasses, though not angry or unkind.

"I know. It's just that when we went to Rome a few months ago, and there was that wine after the theater..." she trailed off. "I must've forgotten the charm. I haven't had a spare minute to brew the potion since this big push for the next session began and you know, I'm usually so precise about these things- I guess I thought the charm would suffice. But I'm late and, I didn't even realize it'd been so long, I've been so wrapped up in work, and the detection spell turned white right away. How could I have forgotten?.." She rambled on, bitterly, as if she was solely to blame. Hermione's eyes glistened in the hallway light, as she held back her emotions from spilling over. "And I know we're "old,"" her voice was steadily rising in volume and emotion, "and the girls are half grown. This wasn't in the plan Harry. What are we going to do? A baby at our age! I can hardly believe it. What are we going to do? We can't be new parents at our age? This is absurd!" She finished a little hysterically, with tears spilling over the corners of her eyes and shamefully wiped them away.

Harry took a deep calming breath and reached to hold his wife.

"You're right. It's not planned. And it is quite the surprise," he smirked naughtily, "though, that night in Rome was rather memorable wasn't it?" He pulled back to look at Hermione and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, trying to lighten the mood, causing his wife to poke him in the ticklish spot on his ribs. Harry pleasantly jerked away. "It takes two of us to make a baby my love, and make a baby we did, many times that weekend. I could have reminded you to do the charm? Could've checked that you'd done it after. It isn't just you at fault. There's no one to blame here, 'Mione. It's just a surprise that's all." Harry gathered her in his arms and continued.

"Hermione this isn't bad news. We've done this twice before. We can manage a third. It can't be that much different than it was twelve years ago, can it?" Harry was smiling now.

She searched his eyes, expecting to see some sense of disappointment or resentment hiding there. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw only genuine affection and excitement. This was Harry, her best friend, her husband of nearly 18 years. She should have known he'd never be angry with her, she immediately felt herself relaxing and allowed herself to let go of the control she'd been hanging onto by a thread.

She smiled a secret smile and asked him, "Do you want to know a secret?" When he nodded and buried his head into her shoulder, taking in the scent of his lovely wife, she put her lips near his ear and whispered, "It's a boy."


	2. Excited Musings

Thanks for all the reviews and follows. I started this on a whim and its been a fun foray into the wizarding world. I'm doin this on my phone, no beta, and its my first HP fic, so I know it isnt perfect, but hope it makes you smile. Thanks again for reading. :) Haley

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"It's a boy." Hermione whispered. Harry's head jerked up and he looked at Hermione with a goofy grin.

"Really? You did the charm? Can we do it again?," she could tell he was excited. Hermione laughed before turning back to the bathroom to grab her wand. She brandished it in one hand and held it aloft over her abdomen.

"The first is the pregnancy charm. If nothing happens, there's no pregnancy. White sparks are a "positive" reading." Harry nodded along, clearly remembering this from Hermione's previous pregnancies. Hermione performed the charm. "Graviditate Ostende," her wand began shooting out white sparks. Harry grinned at her. "This is the gender revealing spell," she worked her wand in a tight circle over her stomach and incanted "Genus Revelio." The small circle she'd drawn with her wand filled with a puff of blue smoke. She looked up at Harry and they shared a grin.

Now that Hermione was calmer, and could see that Harry wasn't angry at her for mucking up the contraception, she could see that this was a happy accident rather than a panic worthy mishap. She'd initially cast the charm, and begun to worry, the thoughts racing in her head- She was older now, too old for a baby! How would they get on with three kids, what would the girls think? This was definitely not part of the plan- and Hermione felt that plans should always be followed. What would Harry think of her mistake, would he be terribly angry with her? However, in her current state, she realized a third child at 41 wasn't unheard of, especially for witches, Molly had been well in her forties when Ginny was born after all. They had the financial means to support another child- Harry's vaults alone kept them flush, though they both held fairly high salaried jobs in addition to that-Harry was the head of the office of International Relations and she in the Legislative Review Office as a head legislator. They'd worked hard to be at the top of their positions and did work they found fulfilling, but that they could put down and leave at the office when needed to focus on their family.

They had the girls, yes, but Lily was 15, and Matilda would turn 13 in April. They hardly required much in the day to day parenting anymore- being Hermione's daughters through and through they each held their educational performance in very high esteem, and so were great students, and quite a boon to their Hogwart's house (Ravenclaws both!). No, the girls would be great big sisters, and in any case they were gone half the year or more for school so it wasn't as if a new baby at home would much disturb their lives. Now that she was thinking more rationally, Hermione could see that this was just an unexpected surprise. A third child had never been discussed, happy as the Potters were with their darling girls. And now a boy would join them- she could feel butterflies dance in her stomach (or maybe it was nausea?) and allowed herself to be excited.

A half serious question from Harry interrupted her musings, "What are we going to do with a boy?!" He laughed. Hermione smiled. There was nothing sweeter than her Harry and his girls. He was a good father. She remembered many mornings sitting at the kitchen table pouring over research, the sound of Harry playing dress up or having royal tea with the girls. He was so good with them, dressing in feather boas and allowing his nails to be painted for the sake of their smiles. She let herself wonder at broomsticks and Quidditch and dragons and the like- what she assumed boys were into. Indeed, what would they do with a boy?

"When," asked Harry.

"October," she answered. "About 6 months. When should we tell the girls? Easter hols? They're just a week away."

"Yeah," he replied. "What do you think they'll say? Reckon they'll be excited or appalled?"

"Probably embarrassed," Hermione answered. "Knowing where babies come from and all. They'll know what we've been up to," she blushed cutely. "No one wants to think of their parents doing that. But, after the embarrassment, I do think they'll be excited. You know how much Tilly loves babies. And Lily is so good with Ginny and Nev's twins when she keeps them."

Harry just smiled and reached for Hermione. "Cmon love, lets go bed," he said as they walked towards their bedroom. "Tomorrow we'll write and tell the girls to come home for holiday. For now, if you'd like, I could help you relive some of our Roman holiday?" He gave Hermione a smug grin that made her weak in the knees.

"You're incorrigible!" She laughed and swatted him on the shoulder, but then she pressed her lips to his and allowed herself to let go of the present and be swept away.


End file.
